Re-purposed Polo Shirt Skirt

I have been on-the-lookout for some pretty fabric to make a skirt.  Originally, I was trying to find some cotton jersey (stretch) fabric in order to make a long maxi skirt.  However, the local fabric stores don't have much of a selection of that type of fabric.  So, until I can make a trip to Mary Jo's (a large cloth store in Gastonia), I decided to look for some material around the house.

My husband had recently cleaned out his closet and put aside some clothes he no longer wore.  After investigating, I found a pretty green polo shirt.  I just loved the color, so I decided to try and use it.  Because a shirt does not give you a whole lot of fabric to work with, I had to make the skirt about knee-length instead of the maxi skirt length I had in mind.  I started by cutting the biggest rectangular piece I could out of the shirt.  Since the sides were already sewed together with hems at the bottom, it cut out a lot of extra work!

The next task was to try to salvage as much fabric as possible from the remaining back side of the shirt in order to make the waistband.  I cut two small rectangles and sewed them together at each end to form a tube.  Then I folded the tube in half lengthwise and stitched the rough edges together to form a finished waistband.

I took the main skirt piece and straight-stitched around the rough edges.  (This is a temporary stitch, so I didn't backstitch at the end.)  Then, I pulled on the bobbin thread at the back in order to create "gathers" in the skirt. 

After I was satisfied with the amount of gathering, I pinned the rough edges of the waistband to the rough edges of the skirt.  Using a zig-zag stitch, I stitched the pieces together.  After that, the only thing left to do was take out the temporary stitch used to gather the fabric. 

And here is my re-purposed polo shirt skirt.  It only took a few hours!